Elevator Problems
by WindauraSky
Summary: When the EYES Team wonder whether to form an official alliance with the harsh Defense Force downstairs, Musashi and Fubuki are to meet down there first. However, a clash of decisions leads to both of them being stranded...


"We'll assemble downstairs. Musashi, Fubuki, you two are to head down first," the captain announced, addressing everyone who stood in an orderly line.

The EYES team were getting ready to form an alliance with the Defense Force on the lowest level of the building.

"Roger that!" they both responded as they ran to the automatic sliding doors positioned directly north. Musashi jogged up in front pointing to a staircase leading to the underground level, "Hey, Fubuki-san, let's use these stairs."

Fubuki shook his head sighing, "Do you realise how long that will take, idiot? The EYES base is on the highest floor of this building- so that we're able to  
monitor activity below. Using a staircase will take too long and we have no time to waste with the Defense Force- you do know that right?"

Fubuki was previously a member of the Defense Force himself. He was in a group with Shinobu as well as another comrade, who had unfortunately passed away due to flying through a disastrous storm. The Defense Force were not as forgiving and kind as Team EYES was, they were harsh and cruel. If a monster had passed the border of safety and stormed into a residential area, they'd instantly make plans to kill it. No exceptions.

Musashi frowned a little, "Well then, do you have another solution?" he retorted accusingly.

"Tch, of course I do. There's an elevator right around the corner." he said, conveniently pointing directly at an elevator whose outside was a tad rusty and it looked as if it hadn't been polished for a few months. Pressing a button, Fubuki gestured for Musashi to enter as the doors slid open.

The doors of the elevator soon closed shut again and the usual whirring noise began as it traversed downwards- or so they thought. Fubuki pressed the glowing button that would head down to the underground floor, before standing in the centre of the elevator, next to Musashi.

Several uneasy seconds passed as Musashi started to worry.

"Uh, Fubuki-san?" he started nervously, "Is the elevator supposed to take this long?"

Fubuki pondered for a little before answering, perhaps there was just a small delay. "Just wait it out for a moment." he stated.

Five minutes passed and they were still waiting.

"Um... Fubuki, it's been five minutes already, I-I don't think this is right..." Musashi stammered, shifting his feet around nervously.

Fubuki raised a hand up to his chin, thinking. He inhaled and exhaled before stepping towards the elevator door, turning to his left and pressed the buttons.

No lights turned on.

Biting his bottom lip, he made three firm knocks on the elevator's metal door covers.

No answer.

Feeling a little more nervous than he previously was, he attempted to physically tear the two sliding covers open, with great difficulty.

No result.

Now he knew something was definitely wrong.

Musashi looked around quickly for an option, spotting an emergency button. He held it down for six long seconds, sounding a siren before calling out, "Hello?" and repeating the process twice more.

Fubuki tried once more to pull the doors open to no avail, while Musashi looked directly at the security camera frantically waving about and calling out to see if anyone was there.

The two turned back around looking at each other as they were back to back. They both glanced at the elevator door before looking back each other again in sync.

"Do you think we should-"

"Yeah."

Taking two small steps backwards as the elevator area wasn't large, they held up three fingers each.

"Three."

"Two."

"One-"

The two knocked into the elevator doors with the side of their bodies, attempting to somehow burst it open with physical strength. Only to witness a hollow metallic sound and a bit of pain.

"Damn, that didn't work..." Fubuki muttered, to which Musashi shook his head in dismay.

Twenty uneasy minutes passed.

Fubuki stood in the elevator's corner, in front of the buttons, before looking down at the EYES transceiver on his left wrist.

"Capu, Can you hear us? This is Fubuki and Musashi."

Nothing was heard except a feint static.

"Capu? Leader? Can any of you hear us?" he asked, in a slightly more panicked voice.

Still nothing.

Kicking the door of the elevator once more, angrily, he tried again to bang his fists on the door and called out. "Hello? Is anyone there?!"

Musashi sighed, looking at his Cosmos pluck. "Cosmos wouldn't be able to help with an elevator, would he...? Even so, if I did that, the secret would be revealed..." he thought mentally.

Fubuki took out his weapon, the launcher that they'd usually use to deter a monster. He tried hitting the elevator door with its handle, hesitating as he knew it was somewhat fragile  
in material.

If only he hadn't suggested the elevator, the two would've been there by now. Going by the stairs that Musashi had suggested earlier, would've taken longer- that is, if the elevator actually worked.  
The two would've long arrived by now if they took the stairs.

Fubuki started to regret his decision. Badly.

"You know, for once, as much as I hate to admit it, it would've been better to ignore my judgement, Musashi..." he started, "You...were right, we should've taken the stairs..." he murmured.

Musashi honestly didn't want to say anything, he didn't want to offend Fubuki and he knew it was not right to blame him for it, even if it did cause them to be stranded. How was Fubuki supposed to know that the elevator was jammed stuck?

-

Hiura folded his arms, placing his hand under his chin. "Where on earth are they? They're taking too long..." he frowned, narrowing his eyes in slight worry.

Ayano shook her head looking down at the floor. "I can't contact them, the connection's cut off! It's as if something is blocking them..." she exclaimed. She glanced to her right as a large, camouflage-patterned army tank rolled out from its station.

"...Looks like the Defence Force are here. They'd better get a move on." Hiura grimly stated, "Could something have gone wrong?"

An army soldier hopped down from the sturdy, green tank, wearing a military helmet for protection. "Team EYES. Have you assembled yet?!" he yelled out in a harsh, forceful voice.

Captain Hiura and the others stood in a uniform line, raising their right hands in a salute of respect. "The majority of us have, although two are missing." Hiura explained, firmly.

"Where are they? Slacking off?" the army soldier growled, "Tell them to drag their asses over here right now! This is not a joke!"

Hiura looked briefly at Shinobu before the both of them glanced back at the foul-mouthed army soldier. Stepping forward, he addressed the soldier, "They should arrive shortly", he replied, his mind still pondering of their whereabouts.

"Fine, we're giving you ten minutes. No more, got it? Or we're handling this monster outbreak by ourselves. You EYES are too soft for our liking!" he spat, "The only reason we're agreeing on this alliance is to protect the people. The residents, the one who really matter. As for your crew, it appears you only idiotically care for the destructive monsters. How silly." he sneered.

Hiura shot a sharp glare, narrowing his eyes when he heard the latter directly insult the EYES counterpart of SRC.

He knew very well how much they didn't get along, yet knew it was wise not to argue any further. Instead, he thanked them for allowing ten minutes before stepping back into the line.

-

Back in the elevator, both Musashi and Fubuki were still figuring out a plan, still stumped on what to do or how to get out.

"If only the maintenance staff were around and not on their 'two day' annual break," Fubuki sighed, folding his arms. "We could sure use their help right now."

Musashi nodded, looking up at the elevator ceiling, "That's for sure. Hey, wait. Look! There's an elevator ha-"

"Don't even think about that, Musashi! Haven't you heard how risky it is? It's strictly for experienced maintenance personnel only!" he warned, "And if we were to unscrew the hatch, there's a chance we might end up hurting those above or below us. Severely." he added.

Musashi thought for a moment before speaking again. He knew that there would be terrible consequences if they attempted something so risky.

Another five long minutes passed.

Fubuki tried knocking into the elevator door multiple times, backing up each time he did. "Still not budging at all…" he huffed, as it was quite energy-consuming.

Musashi pressed the buttons on the transceiver, deciding to call out again to unfortunately, no reply. "This really, really wasn't a good idea, Fubuki-san. What if we never get out?" he said with a worried tone, starting to jump to wild conclusions that really weren't necessary.

"Ayano, Doigaki and Shinobu," Hiura started, addressing. "I'm going to go investigate where they are. There's only a short five minutes until the Defense Force will take over. We don't want that happening." he stated, firmly with a stern tone.

"All right, Capu." they said, "Be careful."

Captain Hiura saluted back to the group before making his way up a flight of white stairs, the stairs that the other two should've wisely taken.

"Musashi! Fubuki!" he called out in the hallway.

No response.

Hiura walked further around until he stopped at the elevator, spotting a piece of paper on the rough ground. "Musashi." he thought, "He must've dropped the paper that was stored inside his pockets." Looking around for more clues, he then decided to call out their names in front of the elevator, "Musashi! Fubuki! Can you hear me?"

-

A feint but certain voice rung throughout the shaft of the elevator, echoing out.

"Did you hear that?" Musashi suddenly asked, springing upwards.

"Capu!" Fubuki exclaimed loudly, awaiting for a reply.

-

Hiura seemed a little surprised to hear their voices. They really were stuck in the place he had just looked in.

"Are you two all right? How far down are you?" he called out, as his voice echoed throughout the walls.

-

"We don't know! We've been down here for around thirty minutes now…" Musashi whined.

"The buttons don't work at all, we've tried every single button that would lead us to the nearest floor." Fubuki explained.

Hiura pondered for a moment, thinking of a possible solution. "Are you certain you pressed every single button? What about the open door button, or even the close door button?"

The two stranded glanced at each other briefly with confusion. "The open and close button? But doesn't that seem too… obvious to be true?"

"You never know. Try it out. It may just work." Hiura replied calling down.

Fubuki gestured for Musashi to try it out, to which he gave a slight nod before doing so.

'Click'.

The button lit up, and they all became hopeful.

"We've got a button working, Capu!" Musashi exclaimed, almost excitedly.

"Great. Now, do you hear any mechanical noises?" he asked, moving on.

"Not so far," Fubuki started, "Just our own enclosed voices and yours."

"Fubuki-taiin," Musashi began, "Try pressing the 'close' door button.

Fubuki looked at Musashi with a very confused expression, "Why would that work of all things?"

"Don't know, but it's the only option we haven't tried left." he replied shrugging.

Fubuki took a step forward, pressing the close door button firmly with his index finger.

Immediately, a whirring sound began which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"We're moving!" they both exclaimed, to which Hiura nodded. "Yes, your voices are becoming clearer. You must be moving up to the original floor you were on."

Two minutes remained.

The elevator pulled to a halt, the sunlight shining which appeared almost heavenly after being left in the dark for so long.

The two EYES members quickly jumped out, moving as far away from the rusty elevator as possible. "Thanks for rescuing us, Capu. You sure saved our lives." they said in gratitude.

"I'm just glad you two are safe- but let's save the proper reunion for later. Right now, we need to hurry down the stairs to meet the Defense Force. You've only got-"

Hiura paused to look at the digital clock embedded in his transceiver, "One minute left!" he exclaimed, shocked, giving them a push on the back to the stairs. "Let's hurry down!"

Hiura, Fubuki and Musashi hastily flew down the stairs in a rush, a couple times almost forgetting they were standing on a platform. They made no caution to check whether they were stepping on the steps properly for even a small trip wasn't so bad right now.

Musashi reached halfway down the long staircase before making a large leap down to the start of the next. He had one thing set in mind- he wouldn't let the Defense Force harm the monsters.

Thirty seconds later, the two 'survivors' along with the captain arrived at the meeting point, their hands on their knees, "We're… we're here. Sorry for the wait…" said Musashi, obviously out of breath.

"It's about time, you slackers!" roared the soldier, "What have you two been doing? There had better be a good explanation for this!" he growled.

Hiura quickly gestured for both of them to stand in line, to which they immediately took to their positions, saluting.

"Right! Now, as we were saying. We've all gathered here today to form an alliance with EYES. If you refuse, we're taking charge. If you accept, the chances are we're still going to take charge anyway." he spat. "So, what is it, Hiura? What's your choice?"

Hiura would've usually thought for a bit longer but he knew that the situation in the future could be dire. Allies would be needed in tough battles for Ultraman Cosmos alone, being the miracle, wasn't nearly enough if they were planning to take down the disastrous Chaos Header.

"As the captain of Team EYES, on behalf of everyone present, we accept your request."

Hiura took a step forward, shaking the soldier's hand firmly before stepping back.

"Well, that's that, eh? See, that wasn't so hard. And I don't know why you had to cause so much trouble. Tch, whatever. The deal's all done now. Return to your base. We'll call you if we need you- that is, if we ever need to." the soldier scoffed.

Team EYES turned around and returned slowly up the stairs, as all the thoughts of everyone was lingering on the choice of alliance, until a question was raised.

"Where were you guys anyway? We were waiting for around thirty minut-"

"Stuck in the elevator." they mumbled. It wasn't the best thing to be proud of.

"...You two were stuck, in an elevator?" Ayano chuckled, stifling a laugh.

"Shut it, it wasn't funny. We were seriously starting to think that we'd never get out. Right, Musashi?" Fubuki warned, glancing briefly over to Musashi for his confirmation.

"Yeah, yes… it was terrifying." he replied.

"And you really pressed the emergency button and nothing happened?" Doigaki asked aloud, starting to lose faith in the mechanical maintenance that ran through.

"...The maintenance personnel were on their two-day annual holiday. It just so happened we got stuck at the wrong time." he sighed.

"Well, at least you didn't get stuck alone. That would've been even worse!" Ayano suggested, light-heartedly.

"What are you saying? I'd rather get stuck in the elevator alone than work with this guy!" Fubuki retorted, folding his arms.

"It was your 'wise' plan that got us into this, Fubuki! If we had taken the stairs we would've never gotten stuck!" he exclaimed sticking his tongue out at his rival.

"If we had taken the stairs, you'd probably be the one to clumsily trip over and knock yourself out. Then we'd have to escort you down."

"Oh yeah? Well, I would've woken up before the thirty minutes!"

"That's enough you two," Hiura said, stepping in between the two pulling them apart so that they didn't end up physically sparring each other. "I'm sure deep inside you're just glad that everyone is okay, and nobody got hurt or left in danger. We all know that it would have been much worse if one of you had to solve this tricky dilemma alone."

Hiura suddenly grinned proudly, "And! In another sense, this could be seen as a teamwork-exercise for Team Spring Breeze!"

Everyone sighed in disbelief. The EYES captain was at it again, being all pleased from his 'creative' team name regarding Musashi and Fubuki. The group returned to their daily duties as they re-entered the automated sliding doors and they all called it a day.


End file.
